95 Books In 2006, George W. Bush read 95 books. We will do better.

I’ve been hearing about Sara Gruen for a while, and I do like horse books, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Riding Lessons seems like the adult version of the young adult series Thoroughbred by Joanna Campbell - terrible things happen, horse must rehabilitate woman, woman must rehabilitate horse, family farm is put at risk, horse-related crime, and some romantic entanglements to work through for some extra drama.

The most interesting thing about this book is the way it deals with disability. The main character, Annemarie, is injured in a riding accident. There’s some talk that she might be paralyzed, but she’s not. Actually she’s mostly okay until her uterus ruptures during birth, but then she’s still okay. Which makes me wonder about the use of debilitating accident as a plot point: it seems cheap. Actually, it reminds me of the new Batgirl, who was shot by the Joker and spent some time in a wheelchair, but her story begins after she has returned to her previous ability level. There are mental repercussions to deal with, but the physical healing happens mostly off-screen, before the story begins. Then there is Annemarie’s father, who has rapidly progressing ALS. I like his character, and the different ways the family deals with his illness seem pretty likely to me. But again, his illness is a plot point, and the story focuses on the ways that Annemarie fails to address her father’s illness until it is too late. While I don’t think (though opinions on this will vary) that the depiction of disability is particularly troublesome—though not likely, Annemarie’s recovery seems plausible to me, and it makes sense that she is still processing the accident years later—it all feels rather cliché. Especially the resolution.

That said, I read the book in one night. It’s a plot-driven (crisis! another crisis! another crisis!) page-turner. Not sure if I’ll bother with the sequel.

~Claire